The Finch Formerly Known As Gold

29 September 2006

The strong, silent types

Mister Snitch issues a warning (which was posted as a comment here):

If this blog ever becomes the sort that routinely gets 50 comments, I'll stop coming. That's all there is to it. As it is, me and McGehee get to stretch out in half the unreal estate 'round here. It's like a cafe no one's discovered. If it gets too popular, everyone will stop coming.

Never gonna happen. The old database (may it rest in peace) had sixteen thousand comments, yes, but they were distributed over seven thousand entries. In April 2004 I noted that I was getting just under two comments per post; the record for any single post is twenty-nine, which occurred here. I attribute the success of this particular post to the comparatively-unusual (for me, anyway) subject matter: the company of babes.

The average in the new database, which opened up on the sixth of this month, remains about two and a half comments per post. Some of my better material gets none at all; I'd like to think that people are simply left speechless by its brilliance, but I suspect it's more an unwillingness by the readership to demand "Exactly WTF are you talking about?" (I was really hoping for something on this.)

I suppose I could always borrow some sock puppets.

Posted at 5:59 AM to Blogorrhea


I just commented on that post on which you were really hoping for comments.

Posted by: Sean Gleeson at 8:10 AM on 29 September 2006

I have no comment at this time.

Posted by: Tam at 8:49 AM on 29 September 2006

If you start averaging 50 real comments per post, I'd consider advertising ... hmmm, maybe that's what Mister Snitch was talking about. If you got a lot of people here, suddenly groupthink and money-making takes over the blog.

Posted by: Dan at 10:55 AM on 29 September 2006

Mr. Snitch's comments disturb me (as does his name, but that's another story.)

If Dustbury-absolutely the best of its kind (whatever that is) remains a "a largely undiscovered cafe", what hope is there for this Internet thing? Is the Net merely a means to distribute porn and sports scores?

Don't answer that.

Posted by: John Salmon at 1:01 PM on 29 September 2006

"Mr. Snitch's comments disturb me"

That's the worst insult I've heard all week, which makes this a pretty good week. But I must note that invoking my name has more than DOUBLED the average number of comments on this post. So it's either me, or porn links. Which do you prefer?

Don't answer that.

Posted by: Mister Snitch! at 11:55 PM on 29 September 2006

Mr. Snitch!: "So it's either me, or porn links."

Change one vowel, and we've got both.

Posted by: John Salmon at 3:00 PM on 30 September 2006